The space rock is called 1950 DA, was first discovered on February 23, 1950

Oct 12, 2013 20:11 GMT  ·  By

It looks like humanity would do best to tick off everything that is written down on its bucket list. This is because, according to NASA scientists, a space rock known as 1950 could hit our planet on March 16, 2880.

Astronomers first documented this asteroid back on February 23, 1950. At that time, they got the chance to monitor it for about 17 days, after which the space rock pretty much disappeared. It was rediscovered on December 31, 2000.

Astronomers say that, according to their investigations, 1950 DA measures about two-thirds of a mile (about 1 kilometer) in diameter, and is presently traveling through space at a speed of 9 miles (15 kilometers) per second relative our planet.

Based on its current trajectory, the space rock is expected to come stunningly close to our planet in March 2880. What's more, it could hit Earth on the 16th day of said month.

Scientists explains that there are 0.3% chances that this space rock will come so close to our planet that it will get sucked in by the gravitational field and end up doing a canon ball in the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of some 38,000 miles per hour (61,155 kilometers per hour).

Should this happen, the force of the collision will be the equivalent of 44,800 megatonnes of TNT exploding all at the same time, Cleaveland Leader reports.

Granted, the fact that 1950 DA has 0.3% chances to hit our planet may not seem like much. Still, scientists explain that, when compared to the collision risk of all other asteroids, this space rock is twice as likely to hit our planet than other asteroids thus far documented are.

The good news is that, according to NASA scientists, throwing this asteroid off course and keeping it from landing in the Atlantic Ocean should not be a very difficult thing to do, especially given the fact that humanity has hundreds of years to prepare for this event.

Thus, scientists maintain that, should the space rock be in fact heading for Earth, it would be enough to use some chalk, charcoal, maybe even white glass beads to change its reflectivity and then let the sun take care of altering its trajectory.